


Diplomacy

by SomewhatCharred



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Fantasy AU, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, and for totally legitimate plot reasons, but in the background most of the time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 14:38:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13237833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomewhatCharred/pseuds/SomewhatCharred
Summary: As Summer dies Ruby must find allies to protect herself and the people she is sworn to, for the world is rarely kind to those with too much to learn and too much to lose. And all that she believes will be shaken.





	Diplomacy

The wind buffeted her cloak around her, cold and biting at this altitude even in summer. She pulled the cloak tighter around herself against the chill and cautiously leaned into the wind wary of her footing on the narrow ledge.

“Almost there!” her father called, a few dozen feet ahead of her, his voice barely audible over the gale surrounding them. “The ritual grounds are just beyond this next peak.” He pointed at the monolithic crags before them grasping her shoulder with the other hand as she drew beside him. “If we hurry you should have and hour or two before sundown.”

Yang simply nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak without betraying her fatigue. Her legs burned with effort simply bracing herself against the wind, and the thick leather armour she wore dragged her down as if made of lead. Ragged breath was pulled repeatedly from her lips, lungs desperate for oxygen that simply couldn’t be found in the thin air of the mountain peaks. Nevertheless she pushed on reaching the base of the crags and started to climb.

The wind stopped suddenly as they reached the peak, stilled by some unseen hand, Yang collapsed to her knees, hands raw from the climb and the armour on her elbows and knees scuffed against the sharp rock, gasping for breath.

Her father pulled himself up after her, seemingly unaffected by the day long ascent through the mountains. “Don’t stop now child.” He stepped over to her, taking the opportunity to ruffle her golden hair while she was too exhausted to exact any kind of retribution. “Your destination is in sight.”

Wearily she lifted her head, lilac eyes widening at the sight before her. Countless peaks stretched out before her mist gathering between them obscuring the greenery that lay there. And beyond them, looking further west, the Burning Plains, an endless savannah where she and the tribe had spent spring.

And before her lay a podium. Perfectly circular and almost a hundred yards across, jutting from the mountain side with perfectly smooth edges, looking as if it were carved from the rock rather than built. Its surface engraves with many images, histories or perhaps prophesies dating back to the time of the Great Pact that formed her people, and around them swirling patterns of text in a language only the mountains themselves now remembered. Around its edge stood twenty four tall stones like obelisks, each engraved with the image of one of the High beasts of the mountains.

The arena was clearly scarred, littered with claw and impact marks, burns and the distinctive scorch marks left by lightning strikes. But despite the countless battles it had seen it remained whole, some power infused into the stone simply forbade it from truly breaking. It connected to the peak Yang knelt upon by a narrow stone bridge and at its end stood an altar with a great rock placed upon it affixed to a scaffold by a heavy iron chain.

“This is where I leave you.” Her father’s voice brought Yang out of her reverie, “Remember you must wait till sundown and then-”

“I know dad.” She interrupted him, breath regained but their voices softer without the wind to compete with. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this, I’m not going to mess up the introduction of all things.” She forced herself to keep her tone light despite the pit in her stomach but the tension in her father’s body did not ease.

“Well you always were an impatient child.” His voice now sounding wistful to her ears, and heavy.

“Come tomorrow you won’t be able to call me child any longer.” She ignored the lingering ache in her legs and pushed herself to her feet, moving to his side and gently elbowing him in the side.

He barked out a short laugh, “I suppose I’ll learn to live with it.” He looked down at her smiling briefly before his face turned grave once more. “Know that whatever happens Yang that I am so proud of you.”

“You don’t need to say this now dad.” She sighed in a mixture of fondness and exasperation.

“Even so, I am. Just…” He took a shaky breath and Yang supressed the urge to comfort him, letting him finish. “Just come back to me okay.” And with that he embraced her, holding her as she mumbled the affirmative into his shoulder. She pulled back after a few seconds and smiled up at him.

“Thank you, Dad, for everything.”

“In blood and pain.” He stood straight and placed his fist over his heart and Yang mirrored his actions.

“We are bound eternally.”

And with that he turned and began the climb back down the mountain, Yang turning and making her way to the altar.

She sat before it in meditative rest, the howling winds were gone but still a chilling breeze blew across the peak and she pulled her thick ceremonial braid over her shoulder in an attempt to shield her neck.

Focussing inwards she centred herself on the constant slowed beating of her heart, feeling the blood coursing through her veins. She allowed a touch of the magic drawn from around her to guide it, replenishing her muscles and filling her with strength once more. Time passed in a blur, her senses faded away as she drew her consciousness within herself to the power in her own blood.

Satisfied she opened her eyes seeing the Sun almost touching the horizon. She took a deep breath, ignoring how it trembled, and stood shrugging of her cloak, the heavy material falling to the weather-beaten rock beneath her, then took off her sandals and untied her waterskin from her belt before stepping onto the smooth stone around the sacred altar.

Setting her feet she grasped the chain, bracing herself and cherishing the pleasant burn in her arms as she pulled, the stone rising from the altar. The links bit into her, each ring cold enough to burn, but found no purchase in her skin weathered as it was, hard callouses telling of years spent travelling training and fighting for survival in harsh and unforgiving lands.

The hammer made a small clunk as it reached the scaffold. she released it. The chain snapping out of her hands as the stone crashed down onto the altar, a deafening crack echoing across the mountains and though the ravines.

Rolling her shoulders Yang stepped forward crossing the bridge onto the podium, the kneeling as she recited a prayer.

“Great Beast hear my challenge

I come to fulfil our pact

As a child of fire I submit to a trial of air

For in blood and pain our bonds were forged

And by blood and pain they are made strong enough to endure

I offer my soul to the victor and make ready for war

In victory and defeat

Guide us in dreams”

The litany flowed off her tongue as words rehearsed but her hands trembled as she unstrapped the bastard sword from her back and discarded the sheath. Taking a moment to centre herself once again, the adrenaline building in her system roaring in her ears and almost overwhelming her, her heart beat out of her control and her hands gripped almost painfully around the hilt of the sword. She focussed on the inscription on the blade. Her gift from summer engraved with the promise Yang had committed to her own blood. The thought of her sister held her nerves in check and her racing heart slowed just a little. Shutting her eyes she waited for the Beast’s response.

She did not wait long.

At once the wind picked up again, this time swirling and howling. Buffeting her from all directions with frigid air and sand stinging her skin. Carried on that wind she heard a roar, powerful, eclipsing even the howl of the wind, and a rhythmic beating, the feeling of great wings beating.

Yang stood, her stance relaxed but a white knuckled grip kept on her sword, her left hand brought up to shield her face as her eyes scanned the sky.

The beast swept into view from behind the peaks to the north, the a hide of stone grey scales coated its long body and great wings bore it towards her at a terrifying pace only to halt itself with a single beat powerful enough to knock Yang almost off of her feet and bringing it down to the surface of the arena with a lightness that belied its sheer mass.

Up close the dragon was regal and terrifying, it stalked forwards on powerful legs, its head larger than Yang’s entire torso and its jaws lined with twin rows of vicious canine teeth. Its heavy brows protected pale blue eyes which seemed to glow softly in the dying light and examined her with a savage intelligence.

For a moment Yang was transfixed by its gaze, unable to move as the moment stretched, but clamping down on her fear and releasing the breath she had not meant to hold she stepped forward. Holding her hand aloft she brought the blade of the sword alongside it and sliced cleanly across her palm and took one more step forwards, offering her blood to the dragon.

The dragon lowered its head taking her hand in its wide jaws, holding for a few seconds as the blood dripped freely onto its tongue. The warmth emanating from the great beast was enough to banish the evening’s chill and its breath washed over Yang like the heat of a furnace, carrying with it the scent of charcoal, molten iron and, more unnervingly, charred meat.

Pulling back the dragon reared up on its hindlegs bringing one of its forelegs to its mouth, cutting its own palm on its teeth and offering it to Yang in turn.

The blood was scalding as it fell into her mouth and instantly her own blood was aflame. She gasped, blood splashing across her chin and down her neck, as she felt raw power course through her and even now the slightest imprint of the dragon’s soul, the will to soar, hunt, burn, and crush like a faint brand upon her mind.

And then it was gone. She stumbled at the loss but quickly regained her footing to meet the glare of the dragon, something almost resembling curiosity flickering across its features as it appraised her. But then that was gone too as it reared up, inhaling swiftly and bathed her in flame.

The blood of the dragon in her protected her from harm.

But not from pain.

She was forced to her knees by the assault, agony shredding every nerve and clawing at her mind as she burned alive. Time lost it’s grasp on her and she spent decades paralysed by overwhelming torture unable to think or breathe.

The assault disappeared as abruptly as it began, the cold mountain air painfully refreshing against her skin even as the stone beneath her burned against her skin. She looked down barely able to believe that she still lived let alone that she still maintained a death grip on the hilt of her sword, the blade now glowing red hot.

She staggered to her feet lifting her head to meet the dragons gaze, a challenge in its eyes and behind that perhaps something inquisitive. It held for a moment before lifting its head and roaring in approval, then coiling slightly it lunged forward with impressive speed.

She moved.

Fourteen years of ingrained reflexes flowed through her muscles as she surged forwards swaying to avoid the beast’s maw, her sword flashed out but simply glanced off the stone scales. She brought her right foot down hard, arresting her momentum and ducked under a backhanded swipe from the dragon’s foreleg and with an upward strike her blade passed between the scales this time. The dragon hissed at the shallow cut but Yang immediately danced back avoiding any punitive strike from its claws only to be caught in the side by a blow from the beasts wing, hearing more than feeling her ribs crack over the thunderous adrenaline pounding through her.

She rolled to her feet rushing forwards to meet the dragon again, her sword a blur in her hands, the dragon was wary now, more defensive and she struggled to land more than a few glancing blows on its stone hide and receiving in return a gash from collarbone to sternum and cleft armour in return.

The flames returned but this time she surged through them in spite of the pain driving her sword between the scales and into the beast’s neck. Blood flowed over the hilt of her blade as the dragon thrashed and she pressed her mouth against the wound, gulping down the liquid fire, new strength flowing through her once again.

A foreleg prised her off and threw her to the floor pinning her. Claws sliced through the thick leather armour of her shoulder and biting into her skin, her cracked ribs screamed as the beast’s weight pressed down upon her. Her sword arm trapped at her side she grasped one of the daggers strapped to her leg with her free hand and plunged it deep between the knuckles of the scaled hand that held her.

The dragon reared back, its roar deafening, and Yang barely dodged a crushing blow from its fist, the stone arena splintering under the impact in her place as she climbed to her feet wheezing breath through cracked ribs. Staggered by another blast of fire she was caught by a sweep of its tail and thrown across the arena pain searing through her bones once more as she slammed into one of the standing stones lining the edge of the podium, sword knocked from her hand and clattering to the floor.

She barely had a moment to collect herself before the dragon was on her again, its jaws wide rushing towards her she was barely able to catch them as they threw her back into the standing stone. Her muscles strained at the effort but for a few moments they were locked in stalemate, the inhuman strength of the dragon matched with the power that now flowed with Yang’s blood. Even so she could feel herself weakening, her body giving out under the sheer calibre of the dragons might. The sickly pulsing of her broken ribs suffocated her and the cold, rough hewn stone at her back cut into her burned and bruised skin, her own blood staining the ancient arena.

Flames flickered in the dragon’s maw.

With a cry of effort she threw herself sideways pushing the beast’s head to the other side of the stone as a jet of flame spewed from its mouth. She leapt for her sword but the dragon was faster, flowing around her and standing over the blade with a roar of challenge and pain. Yang kept moving surging under another clawed strike and surprising the beast by leaping this time at its head, driving her knee into its fist sized eye socket. Pushing off the side of its head with her other foot she dived back to the ground ignoring the jarring impact that shot through her shoulders as she rolled to her feet, sword once again in hand.

They circled around one another for a few moments, acknowledgement in their eyes that their battle was coming to an end. Yang shrugged off the ruined remains of her armour, preferring to end the fight naked save for her bracers than encumbered by the torn and charred leather. Her braids were damaged and in some places had come completely undone, lose hair flowing down her back though matted with blood both hers and the beast’s. The chill night air a soothing balm against her beaten and broken skin. Her eyes were all that remained unchanged, resolute, a fierce lilac held unwavering blue.

They moved as one, clashing together with a shared cry of exhilaration, lunges and feints swift despite their exhaustion both waiting for the other to make a misstep.

Yang broke first.

Slipping on the bloodied stone she stumbled her guard falling for a moment, and the dragon moved catching her leg in its jaws, curved teeth slicing through skin and muscle alike. But even as she fell Yang countered the tip of her sword piercing the dragons eye forcing it to let her fall to the floor.

She struggled to stand but her savaged leg would not support her weight and the dragon lunged once more. Without the strength to block and unable to move aside she took the only path left to her, falling to a crouch she braced her sword against her shoulder even as the dragon’s jaws passed a hair’s breadth overhead. The sword pierced the beast hide just below its mouth and its own momentum tore a gash along the length of its neck.

The beast roared one final time cut short by a rumbling wet choke, its enormous body slumping to the side and crashing down onto the stone. Yang pulled herself to her feet, suddenly light headed though whether from the relief, the pain or the loss of blood she did not know, using her sword as a makeshift crutch she stepped over to where its head rested gazing into its one remaining eye, the beast’s expression almost calm now. It held her eye for a moment, scrutinising her, before closing in acceptance and rolling back its shoulder to expose its heart.

Walking along the length of its neck she placed her hand over the gentle rise and fall of the beast’s chest, the scales still burning hot against her skin. Taking a deep breath she levelled the point of her blade and in a single movement plunged it into the dragon’s heart.

Pulling the sword free the beast’s lifeblood streamed out in a torrent and Yang knelt to drink from it as it flowed. Fire spread through her, the magic in the dragon’s blood mixing with her own burning and replenishing her from the inside, an inferno in her heart. Then it reached her mind as the dragon’s soul crashed into hers, wrestling briefly before wrapping around her like a cloak. Images rushed through her head, a lifetime spent soaring through forgotten peaks. She saw mountains of fire, chains of iron and ashen giants screaming lost curses at the sky collapsed upon her. A voice surrounded her in words unknowable yet so familiar and then she was falling and her world faded to black.

* * *

 

 

_Rise young dragon, the dawn will not wait._

She awoke on cold stone the pale light of morning just barely illuminating the sky, the frigid mountain air whipped across her bare skin and though she knew it was cold it no longer troubled her. The furnace in her blood shielded her. She tried to move but pain assaulted her from every inch of her body, checking her wounds she saw that they were healed in a sense, leaving a dozen jagged and angry scars as if cauterised while she dreamed. Her skin was stiff with dirt ash and dried blood and felt as if it would crack from even her moving to sit.

Agonisingly she dragged herself to her feet, seeing the body of the dragon had disappeared, reclaimed by the mountain beasts leaving only the skull behind. Her trophy to present to her chief.

She took it and staggered to the edge of the podium dragging the monstrous skull behind her, her muscles burnt but even so she could feel the new strength they possessed. She took a moment to re-don her sandals and wrap her cloak around her shoulders. Draining her waterskin she began the trek back down the mountain.

 

* * *

 

It was passed dusk when she arrived back at the campgrounds, fires were lit and the smell of spices and roasting meat filled the air. Yang stumbled onwards still dragging the skull behind her, the sharp pains wracking her body having faded to an aching numbness some hours ago.

She gasped in relief as she caught sight of her father and a few others running out to greet her. She kept her feet until Taiyang reached her, then promptly collapsed into his embrace.

“You succeeded!” he exhaled, voice thick with emotion “I’m so glad”

“Told you I’d be fine” she mumbled into the warm, comforting scent of his shoulder.

He pulled back, tears not yet fallen in his eyes and took in the sight of his daughter, meeting her eyes, bruised and battered but very much alive and almost choked on his relief. He blinked for a moment and realised that her was looking up at her. “You got taller.” He smiled allowing himself to believe she was real at last. “What did you face?”.

She inclined her head backwards, “A dragon father.”

He glanced at the skull, “A little dragon perhaps.” A smirk pulled at his lips growing to full laughter at the annoyed pout she gave in return.

“Welcome to adulthood cousin!” Yang started, forgetting that her father had not been alone, as Sun, unable to keep quiet any longer, clapped a hand on her shoulder eliciting a pained hiss from the champion. “I knew you’d survive,” he continued oblivious “Never even doubted.”

The faunus’ excitement was contagious, and a proud smile broke across her tired face.

“So. A child returns to us bearing a trophy.” A voice boomed out and her father and cousin stepped aside to reveal Chief Wukong, a sizable crowd gathered behind him. Yang knelt and drew her cloak tighter around herself, suddenly very aware of her nakedness beneath it. “Rise Yang, today you are one of us, a woman grown and a warrior of our tribe. As chief I accept your trophy and grant you your name so the world will know you. Step forwards,” the Chief’s eyes flicked to her fathers for a second and an all too familiar smirk crept across her uncle’s face, “Yang Xio Long.”

Yang huffed out a laugh, tired resignation on her face, and let her weight fall on her father again and the cheers of the gathered crowd washed over her, the sense of accomplishment finally settling within her as she limped further into the camp. Her father leaned into her and his voice was soft in her ear, “Eat, bathe and sleep tonight my daughter, you have tomorrow to rest but the camp breaks at dawn the next day and we must ride North. Your mother and sister await.”

**Author's Note:**

> Well that took me an embarrassingly long time. Welcome to what will hopefully be a multichapter fic which will be updated as much as my job and lack of typing skill will allow. I'll admit that this may not have been the smartest way to start, this chapter doesn't really set out the style of the story so much as it does the tone. As in 'brutal and unforgiving and imbued with magic in ways you might not expect'. Who gives their protagonist unapologetic blood magic in the first chapter? 
> 
> 'Wait a minute Char! You've tagged this for Alpha/ Beta/ Omega dynamics and then didn't bring them up at all, what's going on?' I considered putting it in but as she spends most of the chapter fighting the dragon it didn't seem relevant, and it felt a little odd jamming it in to the last little section. It'll be in the next chapter, promise! (Yang's an alpha if you were wondering)
> 
> I appreciate any feedback you can give me and hopefully the next chapter will take me less time to type up than this one did (I'm not going to tell you how long it was. I'm still embarrassed.).


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